Dealer caught with drug in hotel room ‘blamed girlfriend’

A “DEVIOUS and callous” London drug dealer let his young girlfriend “carry the can” after he was caught on a drug-peddling trip to a Cardiff hotel, a court heard.

Osama Abukar, 22, was arrested after police raided a room at the city’s Jury’s Inn hotel and found crack cocaine in November 2015.

The drug was in a shoulder bag belonging to his girlfriend, Amouree Burke, 21, and he claimed the stash was hers.

But police did not believe him and he was convicted of having crack and heroin with intent to supply.

The dealer, of Angel Close, Edmonton, was jailed for seven and a half years, with Burke receiving three and a half for her part.

Yesterday Abukar appealed for a cut in his sentence, but was told by three of the country’s top judges that he had deserved what he got.

Mr Justice Morris said that, when caught, Abukar was “prepared to do anything to save his own skin”.

“He callously let his girlfriend carry the can, while running a spurious defence,” he said.

The court heard crack cocaine worth more than £2,500 had been found in the hotel room, and about £100 worth of heroin in a search of his London home.

Abukar claimed he was in Cardiff because he was working there and denied the offences in a trial at Cardiff Crown Court last November.

But Mr Justice Morris said the fact he took his case to trial meant the crown court judge was able to assess him in the dock. The judge found Abukar had used Burke as “cover”, and the appeal bid was refused.